The Red Miles
by justpayingattention
Summary: "You people have no concept of what we do. We go into dark, horrible places alone and afraid. And we do it with no money, broken down vehicles and with computers that have more viruses that a 10 dollar whore. How? Good people."


**A/N**: Alrighty, so this is my first chaptered TM fic.. The idea's been manifesting in an document that I started one day last year when I got a bit bored and the thought that I should actually try making it into a real fic instead of something full of random scenes that had popped into my head occurred to me when it hit 15,000 words? I prooomise that I'm going to try my hardest to make sure that this isn't going to turn into one of those 'Jane meets girl and they fall in love instantly' kinds of stories.. Instead, I'm aiming to make this into more of a team!fic and how an original character gets on being the newest member of the unit.

(This might also end up turning into a crossover with Criminal Minds at some point, but I'm not quite sure about that yet..)

Finally, massive thanks go out to Nat (lisbonss on Tumblr) for putting up with me spamming you with all the stuff I've written for this so far over Skype and being really helpful with it all, I love you! Also thank you to patrick-jane on Tumblr (gah I'm so sorry, I've never asked you what your name is..) for essentially proofreading this prologue for me.

* * *

Everything felt like it was passing by in slow motion.

Her eyes took in the damp, dingy room around her while the rest of the team yelling "clear!" echoed around her. The place seemed to be completely empty, yet something that she couldn't quite put her finger on told her otherwise.

Then, all of a sudden, pain. A complete agony that ripped right through her and she was falling, falling, her body finally slamming into the ground with a thump. She gritted her teeth and carefully pushed herself into a sitting position before flopping onto her back, past caring about the dull ache in her head from the impact of hitting the floorboards. Within seconds there were footsteps from upstairs and after Lisbon's muted shout of "Jane, don't you dare!" he came thundering down the stairs with what sounded like Cho in tow. They were calling her name, but she couldn't bring herself to reply.

She needed to breathe. The air felt trapped in her lungs, forcing up a heaving cough that came out scarlet and was enough to have both men rush into the room and by her side. Drowsiness was beginning to pull away the threads of her vision, so she attempted to focus on Jane's halo of golden curls directly in front of her. _Come on_, she urged herself. _Keep going. You can't close your eyes._

"Agent down! Repeat, agent down!"

Another cough. The warmth of a hand she knew so well squeezing her own sent memories ricocheting through her mind in a flash and her best attempt at a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. His other hand brushed her hair away from her face and he moved closer, allowing her to hone in on those sad eyes of his. She needed him. Needed him to help her cling onto the life that she knew was fading fast.

"Come on, Erin. Stay with me.. _Please_."

Her eyes felt heavy now, so much so that she had to close them with the image of his face burnt onto her eyelids.

"You're gonna be okay. We're going to get you to the hospital and they'll fix you up, alright?" She could hear the pleading in his voice as it gave way to a roaring sound that filled her ears. The firm pressure of Cho's hands on where she'd felt the shots clearly wasn't helping because her whole body felt like it was on fire, leaving her gasping for air as her breathing slowed.

_"Jane, I need you to go get a medic."_

_"But I can't just get up and leave her."_

_"I know, but she needs help."_

_A soft sigh._

Everything was starting to fade away now. She felt almost as though she was completely at ease and only truly started to relax when the last thing she felt was his lips pressed firmly to her forehead. _No_, she thought to herself as she raised a heavy arm to reach out to where he'd knelt beside her._ Don't leave me._


End file.
